Affiliation:
1. Costerton Biofilm Center, Department of Immunology and Microbiology University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark
2. Copenhagen Wound Healing Center Bispebjerg University Hospital Copenhagen Denmark
3. Department of Clinical Microbiology Copenhagen University Hospital Copenhagen Denmark
Abstract
This study aimed to develop and validate “the Imprint method,”, a technique for sampling microbes from chronic wounds while preserving their two‐dimensional spatial organization. We used nylon filters to sample bacteria and compared with sampling using Eswabs in 12 patients. The Imprint method identified a mean of 0.93 unique species more than Eswab (4.3 ± 2.2 and 3.4 ± 1.4 unique species, respectively; mean ± SD; n = 30). Accuracy between the Eswab and the Imprint method was 93.2% and in cases of disagreement between methods, Imprint had a higher sensitivity in 6/8 of the most prevalent species. In vitro validation confirmed that the Imprint method could transfer bacterial colonies while replicating their two‐dimensional organization and the area covered by bacteria on the plate sampled. Clinical testing demonstrated that the imprint method is a rapid and feasible technique that identified more unique bacterial species than Eswab with a good agreement between methods but that Imprint was better at detecting important pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The Imprint method is a novel technique that cultures and records the two‐dimensional organization of microbes, providing an alternative or supplement to conventional surface culture using Eswab.
Subject
Microbiology (medical),General Medicine,Immunology and Allergy,Pathology and Forensic Medicine